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Wednesday, 17 May 2017

Book Release: The Blackstar Gambit

The Blackstar GambitGenre: Science fiction thrilling adventure

Book Description
The Blackstar Gambit, book 7 in the thrilling Col Sec series will see Kurt Stryder and Zara Hardy face their most challenging threat to date as they are faced with choices that place millions of lives in the balance. From one side of the galaxy to the other they race to find the truth behind an ancient cult that has spawned an evil so deadly it threatens to destroy the entire Confederation starting with planet Earth. Kurt and Zara learn that the good guys don’t always win and that bad things do happen as they stand by helplessly to watch the Blackstar Gambit play out.

Excerpt

“What have you got for me?” the stocky man asked as he entered the room.

It was a small room, an office really, with a desk at one end behind which the other occupant sat. On the desk was a monitor screen, which held an image frozen in time.

The other occupant, a taller, thinner man pointed to the seat before him on the opposite side of the desk.

“Sit, if you will, and watch,” he offered.

The stocky man did as instructed, the man he had come to see knew he was not a man to trifle with and was aware he was more than a little afraid of him.

Goran Visjic, the stocky man, turned the screen fully so he could see it better.

Thomas Patten sat back and watched as the image on the screen began to play. He had seen the footage several times but was still amazed by it.

The footage was of a fight that had been captured in a nightclub. Not just any fight, this was different, for it was between one man against three much larger men while another stood by watching. The fight didn’t last long, the larger men attacked and quickly overpowered the smaller one, as expected, but then the situation changed and the smaller one took charge. In a display of savage, raw strength, he took the three men out as fast as the eye could see. The most remarkable aspect of the fight though, was something that had only been picked up briefly by whoever took the footage. They clearly did not know what they had witnessed but Patten most certainly did. He had the footage cleaned up and enhanced so that when the final version was shown him his heart almost stopped with excitement. This was what his visitor was now seeing.

The image clearly showed the person who had been attacked in close up just as he reared up from the floor after being pummelled there by the three larger men. The image zoomed in on his face and the cuts and scratches from the earlier skirmish miraculously healed as the footage unfolded. Before the man had flattened the other three, his face was as good as new, it had completely regenerated new skin over the damaged tissue.

“What’s this? Are you trying to pull something over on me here?” Visjic snarled, his lip curling up.

“What you see is actual footage of an incident that was witnessed by clientele of a nightclub. Someone watching this fight thought I would be interested so I acquired it from them,” Patten stated, a smile crossing his thin lips.

“This can be verified?” Visjic asked.

“It can, I have located the person in question and everything is in place for the next phase.”

“What are you offering?”

“I propose to obtain a viable sample of his DNA from which we will extract the means of duplicating this amazing ability.”

Visjic looked at Patten, his eyes narrowing as he contemplated his next move and what it would cost. The super soldier syndrome was the Holy Grail for every military in the galaxy. If Patten had it, he could name his price from anyone. He had to lock this down to him and him alone.

“Is this offer open to me alone?” he asked.

“If you meet my price, if not it might well become an auction.”

“You do not want to make an enemy of me, that would be most unwise,” Visjic threatened.

“You are in no position to make threats Visjic,” Patten said sounding much braver than he felt.

“And you have not even verified this serum yet either. When you have a sample let me know your price and we will negotiate further,” Visjic goaded, sensing the man was not as confident as he sounded.

“I’m sorry, did I say this was open to negotiation, no I did not. You will meet my price or I will go elsewhere. Do you really want your competitors to have this, think of the lives lost if they do?”

Visjic was furious but he knew what Patten said was true. He was entirely at this man’s mercy for the moment, which was something he could not allow to continue. For now though he would have to admit defeat. The battle was not lost, just postponed.

He rose from his seat, took a calming breath and said, “You have three days. If you fail then I’ll go after this myself.”

With a scowl, he turned and left the room.

Patten sat back and relaxed.

Visjic was someone he should not antagonise, for he had a way of exacting revenge for the smallest of slights and he had just been dealt a huge one. Still, if he pulled this off, Visjic would be more than pleased and he would be off his back for good. He was not too happy about the time constraints he had given him but he was sure he could deliver.

He reached forward and turned the monitor towards him. He watched the footage one last time stopping it at a close-up of the man in question.

He looked at the blond hair, the chiselled cheekbones and the cobalt blue eyes that shone with an intense vibrancy he envied.

“Okay, Kurt Stryder, let’s see what you’re made of,” he said at the screen.

I was born in Staffordshire to a working-class family, my father worked down the local mines whilst
my mother worked in one of the local Pottery manufacturing factories.
At school, I discovered the joys of reading. I was a big fan of sci fi books but I would read almost anything I could get my hands on. My mother took me to join the local library as soon as I could read and from that day on, if it had words on it, I’d read it.
In the early 70’s there wasn’t much choice where I worked so I ended up in an apprenticeship in screen printing for the ceramic industry.
I’m still in the same trade after a forty -year career but my passion is and has always been writing. After several abortive attempts, I started the Col Sec series around seven years ago, it’s an action adventure series set in the twenty fifth century.

Books by Jan

Books in this Col Sec series
Ronin
Omega
Discovery
Retribution
Extinction
Resurrection
The Blackstar Gambit.
And many more to come…

Come and celebrate with Jan and a host of special guests on FaceBook 19th May from 12.00 through to 21.00 EST.

Don’t forget to enter the prize draw for a chance to win a signed paperback of BlackStar Gambit and 8 amazing ebooks of scifi and fantasy.

The Party is free to attend and you can pop in and out throughout the day. As well as the usual fun and games and contests, there will also be characters from authors’ books popping in to say hello, so don’t miss it.